Resilience by DesignThe Future of Coastal Cities

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”
Jane Jacobs
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Photo Credit: Rockefeller Foundation

In order to get a grip on it, one must be able to relate resilience to other properties that one has some means of ascertaining, through observation.
Martin-Breen & Andries
Resilience: A literature review
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Reflective systems are accepting of the inherent and ever-increasing uncertainty and change in today’s world.
Robust systems include well-conceived, constructed and managed physical assets.
Redundancy refers to spare capacity purposely created within systems so that they can accommodate disruption.
Flexibility implies that systems can change, evolve and adapt in response to changing circumstances.
Resourcefulness implies that people and institutions are able to rapidly find different ways to achieve their goals or meet their needs during a shock or when under stress.
Inclusion emphasises the need for broad consultation and engagement of communities, including the most vulnerable groups.
Integration and alignment between city systems promotes consistency in decision-making and ensures that all investments are mutually supportive to a common outcome.
Reflective
Robust
Redundant
Flexible
Resourceful
Inclusive
Integrated

Change Paradigms
Pave, pipe, pump and prevent
Allowed urbanization of delta and coastal cities
Unintended consequences of increased risks of devastating floods, subsidence, climate change, social isolation and inequality, ecological damage
Living with Water
Adopt multiple lines of defense
Increase long term safety by making room for water
Create new economic and development opportunities with safe, attractive waterways and water infrastructure
Improve quality of life with water through capture, re-use, and retention to integrate healthy water into public spaces

We who live in the world’s deltas or on the edges of great oceans are the most immediate laboratory for innovation and change, and our success or failure will be the symbol for the world’s ability to accomplish great things, or not.
But for all coastal cities our future is not just about survival. … It’s about redemption.
It’s about getting this right, for now and for the generations to come.
- Cedric Grant Deputy Mayor, New Orleans